May 22, 2020 -Dr. Anne Chiaramello's manuscript has been accepted for publication in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Reports. The title of the study is: "Molecular genetic and mitochondrial metabolic analyses confirm the suspected mitochondrial etiology in a pediatric patient with an atypical form of alternating hemiplegia of childhood" by Andrea Gropman, Martine Uittenbogaard, Christine A Brantner, Yue Wang, Lee-Jun Wong, and Anne Chiaramello.

Accomplishments and Recognition to our undergradute, graduate and medical students

Apr 16, 2020: Congratulations to Dr. Anne Chiaramello for being appointed to the Reviewer Board of Antioxidants.

Apr 3, 2020:Congratulations to Chapman Wei,who receive a grant from The 2020 La Foundation La Roche-Posay to work on his research project at Dr. Tatiana Efimova’s laboratory, “Targeting p38 Isoforms in Human Cutaneous Metastatic Melanoma Invasion”.

Mar 13th, 2020: Congradulations to Dr. Inhee Chung for receiving a three year grant award from the National Science Foundation entitled: "Integrated optical imaging and machine-learning platforms for mapping 3D topology of nanoscale cellular structures"

Mar 4th, 2020: Congradulations to Dr. Anne Chiaramellofor being selected to give a talk on the mitochondrial neurodevelopmental disease MELAS at the international annual meeting sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology on April 30, 2020 in Toronto.

Mar 4th, 2020: Congratulations to Dr. Kirsten Brown for being selected as the recipient of the 2020 Morton A. Bender Teaching Award. The Bender Teaching Award was established to recognize undergraduate, graduate and professional teaching at GW. It is endowed by Morton Bender and the George Washington University,

As the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs noted in his letter:

"Excellence in teaching is the cornerstone of every successful academic program. The university is proud to honor your work in the classroom. The award is well and truly deserved."

Mar 4th, 2020: Congratulations to the following faculty who will be representing the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology at this April's upcoming annual meeting for the American Association of Anatomists.

Kirsten Brown

Service: Nominating Committee and Educational Affairs Committee

Posters:

How do medical students utilize Instagram to facilitate their anatomy learning during the preclinical years? (presenter)

Medical Faculty’s Perception of the Use of Altmetrics (presenter)

Analysis of the efficacy of various types of preparatory work for the gross anatomy laboratory

Evaluating the Use of 3D Printed Models in Graduate and Undergraduate Human Neuroanatomy Courses

Kathryn DeVeau

Poster: Evaluating the Use of 3D Printed Models in Graduate and Undergraduate Human Neuroanatomy Courses (presenter)

Nicole DeVaul
Poster: Analysis of the efficacy of various types of preparatory work for the gross anatomy laboratory (presenter)

Symposium Chair: Histology: What is it Good For?

Kurt Johnson

Poster: Analytical Comparison of talc in commercially available baby powder and in pelvic tissues resected from ovarian carcinoma patients

Marc Spencer

Service: Ambassador Committee

Posters:

New Late Jurassic Dinosaur (Ornithischia) from China Sheds Light on the Early Evolution of the Ornithopod Skeleton (presenter)

Evaluating the Use of 3D Printed Models in Graduate and Undergraduate Human Neuroanatomy Courses

Victor Taylor

Service: Committee for Early Career Anatomists

Mar 2nd, 2020: Congratulations to Dr. Anne Chiaramello for having her Minisymposium proposal titled "Mitochondrial neurodegenerative diseases: from pathogenic to therapeutic opportunities" accepted by the Society for Neuroscience as part of their 2020 international meeting.

Feb 24th, 2020: Congratulations to Dr.Tatiana Efimova who will co-chair a session "Epidermal Structure and Function" at the upcoming Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) annual meeting in May 2020. She also was selected by the SID Board of Directors to serve on their Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Nov 7th, 2019: Congratulations to Dr. Anne Chiaramello for being appointed to the Editorial Board of Metabolic Brain Disease.

Oct 7th, 2019: The inaugural Frank Slaby PA Award was given on October 7, 2019 at the Physician Assistant Week Reception and Awards Ceremony. Dr. Slaby was an outstanding educator for over 40 years at GWU School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences. He taught thousands of students including Physician Assistants. In honor of Dr. Slaby, this award was given to Maddie Schenk, a Gross Anatomy PA Student, who was nominated by her peers for being supportive and arranging anatomy review sessions. Ms. Schenk also encouraged her peers during Gross Anatomy Laboratory and performed in the top of her Anatomy class.

August 20th, 2019: Congratulations to Dr. Kenna Peusner for recognition of her publication in JARO describing her "New Model for Congenital Vestibular Disorders".
Please see the news release on the ARO website: https://asro.memberclicks.net/jaro-research-news

August 1st, 2019: Dr. Anne Chiaramello and Dr. Martine Uittenbogaard received the notice of Issuance from the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office for their patent titled “Treatment for Mitochondrial Diseases”. Their invention was made with Government funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The embodiments of their invention relate to methods of treating patients affected with an inherited mitochondrial disease and methods of screening compounds that restore cellular mitochondrial activities. Currently, these mitochondrial diseases with an early childhood onset remain intractable. Thus, patients are treated with limited palliative options that fail to halt the fatal progression of these mitochondrial diseases, resulting in significant disability, poor prognosis and premature death. The Chiaramello laboratory aims at fully understanding the pathogenetic mechanisms of inherited mitochondrial diseases and at developing novel therapeutic avenues.

May 15, 2019: Dr. Marc Spencer & Dr. Cathy Forster were awarded a grant for "Ornithischian Dinosaur Phylogeny and the Base of Ornithopoda."
The funded project will form the core of a larger collaborative study analyzing the systematics, evolution, functional morphology, and biogeographic history of an enigmatic group of herbivorous dinosaurs called ornithopods.

April 13, 2019: GW SMHS hosted Day in the Life of a Medical Student. Kerrie Lashley and junior gross anatomy faculty put together a program, along with a video, for the parents for our medical students.

Mary Ann Stepp, along with collaborators A. Sue Menko and Janice Walker from Thomas Jefferson University, recently published a paper in Anatomical Records titled “Fibrosis: Shared Lessons From the Lens and Cornea”. The manuscript is open access and is available free on line now. It highlights the importance of using multiple tissues and model organisms to better understand how fibrosis occurs and to allow us to develop new treatments to encourage regenerative repair and minimize fibrosis.

“The corneal epithelium and sensory nerve fiber maintenance: the cable business expands into new territory”, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL February 8, 2019.